In many large scale communication networks, a large number of optical fiber interconnections must be managed to effectively implement the network. The number of connections to be managed can be thousands to hundreds of thousands in some cases. Such large scale networks place difficulties in planning, deployment, and upgrading communication capacity.
One aspect of large scale communications networks is that data must be passed between entities within the network. One means of distributing that data is through the use of an optical circuit switch (“OCS”). An OCS generally has an array of input ports and array of output ports. Generally, the OCS can receive data through an input port and pass the data from the input port to an output port. Thus, a network device that is connected to an OCS input port can have its data transmitted to any of the devices connected to an output port. The specific output port that receives the data can be adjusted by programming the OCS. This inherent flexibility when using an OCS provides for a more easily managed communications network that can facilitate the planning, deployment, and upgrades necessary within a large scale communication network.
When implementing a communications network using, in some aspects, an OCS, improving the efficiency and functionality of the OCS will aid in improving the capacity of the communications network. As the number of connections within the network can approach hundreds of thousands, a more efficient OCS that can serve more network devices can offer improvements in bandwidth, power consumption, scalability, etc. Thus, improving the capabilities of an OCS can offer significant advantages to a communication network provider.